This invention relates to means for securing dental models to dental articulators. In particular, it relates to use of a plurality of pins in a base member for holding dental models with sleeves that fit onto the pins in the base member.
Previously, dental models have been attached to dental articulators with various devices that do not provide the stability and versatility of this invention. One example of a different means for attachment of dental models to dental articulators is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,036, issued to Weissman on Mar. 23, 1982. The Weissman patent taught a type of multiple-part dowel pin which required tools for its assembly and disassembly for use. It was more complicated and time-consuming for attachment of dental models to dental articulators and detachment of the dental models from the dental articulators repeatedly than desirable for dental technicians. British Patent Number 1,456,405, issued to Daub on Nov. 24, 1976, described a dental articulator having a connector pin that enabled an upper part of the articulator to rotate relative to a bottom part. Beneficial as this rotational adjustability was, it did not provide a means for convenient and fast attachment of a dental model to a dental articulator and then for quick-and-easy removal and replacement of the dental model for structuring teeth and bite factors without deforming a means for attachment of the model to the articulator.